“Angry” Rama gives utility firms second chance

CEBU, Philippines - Disappointed that utility firms failed to finish untangling the dangling wires in Cebu City, Mayor Michael Rama said he will face himself the heads of the power and telecommunication firms in the country.

“I will visit their head (offices) in Manila. I will talk to their presidents. If I have to talk to their [presidents] then I have to do it one by one and will talk to them. That is the direction and we all should be one on this,” Rama said.

It was over three months ago when utility firms, in a written agreement with the city government, vowed to untangle dangling wires, remove leaning poles, replace rotten wooden poles, and observe vertical clearance standards in the city.

But Rama was disappointed on his 61st birthday on October 28, the scheduled deadline for the firms, after learning that the firms accomplished only about 20 percent of their tasks.

Reportedly an angry Rama then decided to extend the deadline - utility firms have to report their accomplishment on February 24 and the tasks should be completed by May 1.

Rama told the city’s Technical Infrastructure Committee under the supervision of City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete to take this second chance seriously.

“Mao na si Poblete, they have to be serious in this whole thing. We are going to have it by February and then in May...  Let’s not talk about sanctions first. Let’s talk about doing it instead,” he said.

The mayor advised the utility firms to conduct focused group discussion with other concerned stakeholders to resolve the problem.

Spaghetti wires and leaning poles have been a public concern following two incidents early this year when utility posts killed two people – a woman and a 13-year-old boy.

This prompted the city government to call for an emergency meeting and to draft the agreement with the utility firms.

Present during the meeting were representatives from the Visayan Electric Company; Bayan Telecommunications; Globe Telecom; Innove Communications, Inc.; Telecom Infrastructure Corp. of the Philippines; SkyCable Digitel; and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.  (FREEMAN)